Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method for merging fingerprint images. More particularly, the present invention relates to the method for merging fingerprint images based on a hierarchy structure.
Description of Related Art
Human fingerprints are detailed, nearly unique, difficult to alter, and durable over the life of an individual, making them suitable as long-term markers of human identity. There are at least two stages for the application of fingerprint. The first stage is enroll, and the second stage is verification or identification. In the enroll stage, a user puts his/her finger on a fingerprint sensor to scan enough fingerprint features. However, in some implementations, the area of the fingerprint sensor may not be large enough due to factors such as cost so that the finger has to be scanned several times, and thus an algorithm for merging multiple fingerprint images is needed. A conventional algorithm involves obtaining a first fingerprint image, and other follow-up fingerprint images are merged into the first fingerprint image. The defect of the algorithm is that when the first fingerprint image is not clear, the merged fingerprint image may have many errors, sometimes even causes error propagation. Therefore, it is an issue in the art about how to provide a better method for merging fingerprint images.